A 12-year-old boy was seriously injured by a boat propeller in the Sea of Galilee, July 14, 2023/photo by MDA operations
The bathing season in Kinneret will open tomorrow (Tuesday) - a week before the official opening date of the season according to law, due to Eid al-Fitr, which falls this year before Passover. Already in the last few weeks, even before the official opening, the lake shores are more crowded than in previous years. "It's understandable, people want to come to Kinneret and get some fresh air," explained Deputy Chief Yigal Ben-Lulu, commander of the Tiberias police station. The Sea of Galilee and its shores are under the responsibility of his station and there they are preparing for a particularly busy summer.
The war in the north, the evacuation of many settlements and the closure of businesses and tourist sites in the Upper Galilee, leave out of bounds the streams, the rafting sites in Jordan and its sources and a host of shady, wet and cool places that are especially loved by Israeli vacationers. The Association of Kinneret Cities said that "the coming season will be especially busy, due to the complex reality in the northern region and the many evacuees who are staying in hotels and guest rooms in the Kinneret area, due to the security situation that does not allow them to return to their homes."
Senator Ben-Lulu agrees with this assessment and expects that along with the 14,000 evacuees from the Upper Galilee who moved to Tiberias and around the Sea of Galilee, there will be visitors to the beaches who will not be able to take a vacation north of there. According to him, this year's bathing season is "not an easy challenge". According to the data he has, In the six months between April and October, about five million visitors usually come to the Sea of Galilee, and in the coming bathing season this figure is expected to increase.
The Union of Kinneret Cities operates "quiet beaches", where it is forbidden to play music/Official website, Tami Nehemiah, Union of Kinneret Cities
Along with regulating traffic on the roads around the lake, the main task of the police will be to maintain order on the beaches. For several years now the Association of Kinneret Cities has been operating "quiet beaches" where it is forbidden to play loud music. This is part of a journey to restore the Sea of Galilee to the general public and especially to families, after years of removing their feet from the beaches where violence, noise and dirt increased.
The police, together with Kinneret Union inspectors, have increased enforcement activities and maintaining public order and peace on the Kinneret shores and are assisting a camera center known as 'Kinneret Safe', which controls 160 security cameras placed on the beaches.
Adding to the complex reality this year is the need to prepare for a situation where vacationers will have to be evacuated due to a security incident. "This is an event that can happen at any given moment," said Senator Ben-Lulu. According to him, it was understood that it would be wrong to place shelters on the beaches, because these would not be enough for thousands of vacationers, and the attempt to reach them and find shelter could result in the opposite result, of great distress. "The directive to the public In such a case, it is to lie on the ground and put your hands on your head and follow the instructions of the Home Front Command," he clarified.
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"Motorized vessels cannot be brought into the Sea of Galilee - a restriction must be made"/Reuven Castro
But the challenges do not end even in routine. In an interview with Senator Ben-Lulu, he repeatedly mentioned the use of alcohol as the main factor in the development of violent phenomena, wild behavior and dangerous sailing in the waters of the Sea of Galilee. "We intend to prevent violence on the beaches and if necessary, we pour alcohol in any case where there is a fear of violating public order," he clarified. "The use of alcohol, the wild behavior and the loud music drove families away from the beaches in the past. In recent years, families have started to return to the Sea of Galilee and we intend for this trend to continue. We want people to come, enjoy themselves and return home satisfied."
For the many vacationers who will come to Mitzpe HaKinneret this year too, with a high level, but the picture is not perfect. In the lake, phenomena occur that cloud the enjoyment and even endanger lives. Simultaneously with the increase in the number of vacationers at the national lake, the number of sailing vessels increases every year The motorized boats that sail in the Sea of Galilee.
"The Sea of Galilee is not a large lake and you can't put motorized boats into it indefinitely. We need to put a certain limit on it," Ben-Lulu asks the state authorities who are supposed to put order in this area. Unfortunately, even before the bathing season officially opened, a fatal accident had already been recorded in the Sea of Galilee. At the weekend, a 33-year-old man was killed by a boat propeller. In recent years, almost too many Summer there are similar accidents that end in death and injuries.
"The combination of alcohol and driving a jet ski becomes a murderous tool"/ Kinneret Cities Union
The heavy load of vessels on the Sea of Galilee is joined by a significant problem that the legislators have not yet found time to solve. For several years, the members of the Association of Kinneret Cities and the police have been asking for a law to be enacted that prohibits motor vessels from sailing in Kinneret under the influence of alcohol.
Yes, a boater can be drunk and there is no law that gives the police an enforcement tool to prevent that. "The combination of alcohol and driving a jet ski or a boat becomes a murderous tool," clarified Sen. Ben-Lulu. "A tool that goes wild near swimmers and bathers may endanger their lives," he added
. that must be treated. In the meantime, it is not possible to inspect sailing vessels under the influence of alcohol, it is even forbidden to pour alcohol from boats." If we need to add another detail to the complex reality, it turns out that the holder of a sailing license is allowed to allow one of the passengers next to him to sail the boat or jet ski.
"It is fine if the boater Responsible, but it bothers me if alcohol enters this situation, which could lead to wrong judgment. It's a recipe for disaster," Senator Ben-Lolo clarified.
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bathing
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Tiberias